Ellen G. White: The Early Elmshaven Years: 1900-1905 (vol. 5)

Meetings in the San Francisco Bay Area

She and Elder A. G. Daniells were the main speakers for the Week of Prayer in the churches at Oakland and San Francisco during the last week of December, 1900. She stayed in the home of a Dr. Ernest H. Mattner, who resided about five blocks from the church on Laguna Street. But she was to suffer another of her suffocating encounters with crowded rooms and hot wood-burning stoves when she tried to open the Week of Prayer in San Francisco on Sabbath morning, December 22. 5BIO 50.3

She tells what happened when she went to the church: 5BIO 50.4

I found two stoves in the meeting room, one on either side, midway between the door and the pulpit. Fires were burning in each of these. Sabbath school had just been held in the room, and owing to the imperfect ventilation, the atmosphere was very impure. I felt the effect of this as soon as I entered. My heart began to pain.—Manuscript 1, 1901. 5BIO 50.5

So greatly did I feel the effects of the poison in the air that although I stayed in the church only fifteen minutes, I feared that it would cost me my life.—Letter 2, 1901. 5BIO 51.1

I could not breathe freely, and I knew that exhaustion was coming over me. I said to Elder Corliss, “I know that I cannot speak this morning.” He was greatly disappointed, and asked me if I would venture to speak in the afternoon. I said that I thought I could, and as nothing had been said before about an afternoon meeting, he put the question to the people. They unanimously decided to have a meeting.—Manuscript 1, 1901. 5BIO 51.2

Before leaving the church auditorium, Ellen White nearly fainted. She feared that she might fall from her chair and create a sensation, so she half hid behind the organ. Just then Sara McEnterfer appeared and assisted her outdoors, and Ellen White declared, “I cannot describe the relief that came to me to know that Sara was there.”— Ibid. She rested in her room until the afternoon, pleading with God for strength to bear her testimony. 5BIO 51.3

In the afternoon she found that there were no fires in the stoves and that the building was well ventilated, even though the thermometer stood at 56 degrees F. She addressed the people and felt that the Lord helped her in what was a “most decidedly victorious meeting.... The countenance of the congregation was lighted up and many testimonies were borne and they were right to the point—testimonies of thanksgiving and joy in the truth. Then I requested all to rise up and pour forth from grateful hearts their testimony.... It was a wonderful, blessed meeting.”—Letter 14a, 1901. 5BIO 51.4

Tuesday was Christmas Day, and Ellen White spent much of it touring San Francisco. Of this she wrote: 5BIO 51.5

Brother Pierson drove us to Strawberry Hill, explaining many things of interest along the way as we wound up the ascending grade. Here there are large parks, to which the people can come from the bustle of the city. This is a blessing which all classes are free to enjoy, the poor as well as the wealthy. Here they can see trees and plants and shrubs from every clime, with roses and lilies and pinks and many other flowers. All are free to enjoy these things, but none are permitted to pick the flowers. Should they do this, the beauty of the scenery would soon be no more.—Manuscript 1, 1901. 5BIO 51.6

Since it was a holiday, the park was not, as usual, filled with men “smoking pipes and cigars and cigarettes.” In regard to the few who were, she thought to herself, “Oh, how I wish they knew what harm they are doing to themselves by using tobacco, while at the same time they poison the Lord's free atmosphere, so that others are injured.”— Ibid. 5BIO 52.1

Dinner was taken at the vegetarian cafe at 755 Market Street. E. G. Fulton and his wife were operating a thriving business, serving nearly five hundred people a day. Ellen White liked everything about the little restaurant. She commented on the neat appearance of the waitresses with their dark dresses and white aprons. She was pleased that the establishment lived up to its name and did not serve a “particle of meat, poultry, fish, or anything that requires a sacrifice of life” (Letter 3a, 1901). She was also pleased to learn that the cafe was closed on Sabbath. 5BIO 52.2

Fulton had received complaints from his regular customers when he first closed the doors on Sabbath. Some declared he would “fold up” if he insisted on that policy. But he had persisted, and as Ellen White noted, “Since the Sabbath closing, a special blessing has manifestly rested upon the work.”— Ibid. She was glad for the service the restaurant provided as a practical demonstration of the best methods of preparing wholesome, palatable food without flesh meat. Writing to an Australian doctor, she commented that she wished that some Adventists with their money tied up in banks and other investments would use this means in establishing vegetarian restaurants so more people might be benefited. 5BIO 52.3

Midweek she went to Oakland for the last half of the Week of Prayer. She felt the Lord's special blessing as on Sabbath she spoke to a congregation of six hundred. Elder Daniells, returning from many years’ work in Australia, stayed on in Oakland to bind off the work. When the final reports were in, forty-six had been baptized. 5BIO 52.4

The ten days spent in the Bay Area were a time of earnest labor, and Ellen White was quite worn out when she returned to her home. She was happy, however, with the fruitage of the rather strenuous program. The following Friday she was exhausted, and during her evening bath she fainted. Sara and Maggie succeeded in getting her to bed, where she was confined for the next two weeks. Then, upon getting up too soon, she suffered a relapse and had another period of illness. Nonetheless, she maintained her plans to attend the General Conference session in Battle Creek, even though Sara declared that she was “‘not fit to go anywhere,’” and she dreaded the trip for her (Manuscript 43a, 1901). 5BIO 52.5